Markets Stumble To Mixed Finish

MORNING BRIEFING

June 26, 2004

NEW YORK — A weaker gross domestic product figure and a flurry of late-day trading left stocks widely mixed Friday, with tech issues and small caps gaining as blue chips suffered. The major indexes also finished the week mixed.

The GDP grew at a 3.9 percent annual rate in the first quarter -- a strong pace, but less than Wall Street expected.

In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes climbed to a record annual rate of 6.8 million homes in May, up 2.6 percent from April.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 71.97, or 0.7 percent, to 10,371.84.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 6.22, or 0.6 percent, at 1,134.43, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 9.90, or 0.5 percent, at 2,025.47.

For the week, the Dow lost 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 2 percent.

United Natural Foods

To Drop `Poison Pill'

United Natural Foods Inc. will drop a ``poison pill'' provision against hostile takeovers Wednesday, the company said Friday.

The poison pill was a provision of a stockholders' rights plan that was due to expire in 2010. But the Killingly-based food distributor's board of directors unanimously voted to change the expiration date to June 30 of this year.

St. Paul Travelers Cos., the second-biggest U.S. commercial insurer, sold its remaining 6 million shares of reinsurer Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. after divesting itself of most of its stake in an initial public offering in 2002.

St. Paul Travelers, based in St. Paul, Minn., declined to comment on the proceeds. It would have raised about $183 million, using Thursday's closing share price of $30.54.

St. Paul Travelers had been the biggest shareholder of Platinum, Bloomberg News data show. Merrill Lynch & Co. was the underwriter of the sale, buying the shares from St. Paul Travelers to then sell them to the public.

Platinum, based in Bermuda, had been the reinsurance arm of the former St. Paul Cos., which merged with Travelers Property Casualty Corp. to form St. Paul Travelers in April. Reinsurers share the risks of insurers.